Growing up near Boston, MA, I was lucky enough to live in a town with several lakes and ponds that were perfect for ice skating in the winter.

My mom used to be a figure skater so I had my own pair of ice skates from quite a young age. Even though I sucked and could barely move in a straight line without wobbling, it was an activity that I absolutely loved. If the winter was warm and the pond wasn’t quite frozen, sometimes my mom or dad would take me and my friends to the indoor skating rink in the next town over.

And the best part about ice skating? All that exercise out in the cold was the perfect excuse for a big mug of hot chocolate (with a teaspoon of Fluffernutter of course).

Almost 26 years later my love for ice skating hasn’t changed (neither has my skill…). So even though I now live 3 thousand miles from home, I still expect my husband to take me ice skating somewhere AT LEAST once during the winter.

This year, my friend Ieva and her boyfriend were interested in going ice skating too so we planned a group trip to Hotel de Ville to get our skate on.

For those of you who are interested, the rink will be open everyday until March 3rd. (For hours click here).

The price is 6 euros (not bad!) unless you have your own skates, then it’s free.

And one important thing: YOU NEED TO BRING GLOVES!

They won’t let you skate otherwise. Edouard and I forgot this little rule so we had to buy a pair for him there… (Like the overly-prepared person that I am, I had mine in my coat pocket already).

The 4 of us had a great time and we skated for over an hour. Here are some pictures and a video that I took of our little outing:

Skating selfie!

The crew in our sexy skates 😛 Guy who took our picture put his thumb in front of the lens…